The influence of tropical wind data on the analysis and forecasts of the GLAS GCM for the Global Weather ExperimentSeveral densities of tropical divergent wind data were included in a fourth-order GCM to examine the effects on the accuracy of the model predictions. The experiments covered assimilation of all available tropical wind data, no tropical wind data between 20 deg N and 20 deg S, only westerly tropical wind data and only easterly tropical wind data. The predictions were all made for the 200 mb upper troposphere. Elimination of tropical data produced excessively strong upper tropospheric westerlies which in turn amplified the globally integrated rotational flow kinetic energy by around 10 percent and doubled the global divergent flow kinetic energy. Retaining only easterly wind data, ameliorated most of the error. Inclusion of all the tropical wind data however, did not lead to overall positive effects, as the data were linked to tropical wave energetics and ageostrophic winds which were already assimilated in the model.
Document ID
19870024422
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Paegle, J. (Utah, University Salt Lake City, United States)
Baker, W. E. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)